The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) just concluded a press conference in Washington, D.C., where the environment protectors released a report ranking states by: a) how vulnerable its citizens are to the combined effects of the economic downturn and changing oil prices and, b) significant steps taken to reduce oil dependence through smart clean-transportation policies. California comes out on the top where it should for a change.
According to “Fighting Oil Addiction: Ranking States' Oil Vulnerability and Solutions for Change,” the top 10 states that are doing the most to promote clean energy
technologies and reduce their dependence on oil are: #1 California; #2
Massachusetts; #3 Washington; #4 New Mexico; #5 Connecticut; #6 New
York; #7 New Jersey; #8 Pennsylvania; #9 Oregon; and #10 Florida.
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By contrast, the top 10 states most vulnerable to oil price increases are: #1
Mississippi; #2 Montana; #3 South Carolina; #4 Oklahoma; #5 Louisiana;
#6 Kentucky, #7 Texas; #8 New Mexico; #9 Georgia; and #10 Arkansas.
“Especially
with today's economic challenges, Americans face a growing threat from
our nation's dangerous addiction to oil,” said Deron Lovaas,
NRDC's transportation policy director. “This report shows how important
it is for states to promote clean energy policies that will reduce our
dependence on oil, while also reducing global warming pollution.”
The full report, with state-by-state rankings, can be accessed here.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.